Sat. June 2 – National Day of Action on the Omnibus Budget Bill
at Conservative MPs’ offices across Canada,
spearheaded by Leadnow.ca . More details will come out soon ….
The CBC We Want
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting hosts a community conversation:
When: 4:00 to 6:00 pm, Thursday, May 31st
Where: The Hall, Knox Presbyterian Church, 50 Erb Street, Waterloo (map)
Followed by Dalton Camp Awards at the Clay and Glass Gallery
(across the street from the church).
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is convening this national conversation.
Please bring your ideas about the kind of CBC you want – or simply attend to consider what promises to be a provocative, thoughtful and constructive discussion.
When: 4:00 to 6:00 pm, Thursday, May 31st
Where: The Hall, Knox Presbyterian Church, 50 Erb Street, Waterloo (map)
Veronica Tennant, producer, director and prima ballerina, will moderate the opening session of this Canada-wide conversation which will be webcast live from this launch event.
The consultation will feature contributions from some of Canada’s most creative thinkers and artists including Howard Dyck, Eric Friesen, Leah Pinsent and many more with music by The Waterboys and the New Vibes Jazz Quartet.
RSVP:
For more information and to RSVP visit www.friends.ca/TheCBCWeWant
You can also RSVP by calling 1-866-585-0553
If you know that you will not be able to attend in person, please consider leaving a comment on the CBC you want at www.friends.ca/TheCBCWeWant
Immediately following The CBC We Want event, FRIENDS will be hosting a reception to present the 2012 Dalton Camp Award to the winner of an essay competition on the topic of links between the media and democracy.
We are all treaty people: An Indigenous Solidarity Town Hall Meeting for KW
Monday May 28
6-8pm
WLU Faculty of Social Work, Auditorium
120 Duke St. West, Kitchener, ON
(across from the back of City Hall)
Read details below, about why we need this conversation.
Indigenous Solidarity Town Hall
Did you know that Canada exists on traditional Indigenous territory?
Like the rest of this country, Kitchener-Waterloo residents have settled on land that was stewarded long before by the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America). Later granted by law of the British government to the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, an ongoing colonial legacy of Canadian law and policy has resulted in their wrongful displacement from this land, and the construction of cities like our own – without any acknowledgement of that history. In this context, Grand River Indigenous Solidarity invites you to participate in a community discussion, from a settler perspective, about what it means for us to live and work in this region. Come out and learn from local organizers about current Indigenous sovereignty struggles and solidarity work, as well as how you can get involved!
Topics of our conversation will include:
-A brief history of whose land we live on, and how this came to be
-Report-back and updates from the April 28th Walk for Peace, Respect, & Friendship in Caledonia
-Allied resistance against tar sands development and environmental impacts across Ontario, report-back about the issues surrounding the Line 9 pipeline that crosses the Halidmand Tract in Ontario & the London hearings
-The Oshkimaadziig encampment and cultural education project in Awenda Provincial Park
-Resistance to the construction of a new waste processing plant in Dundalk, with two key representatives of the struggle speaking
-Grassy Narrows and River Run 2012 in Toronto from June 5-8!
Generously supported by WPIRG
Spark in the Park
Tres exciting musical event with an inspiring network of local organizations attending too! More details available at http://sparkmusicfestival.org.
When: Saturday, May 26, 3:30-10pm
Where: Waterloo Park
Cost: $15 in advance / $20 at the gate
How to Attend: Find out how to buy tickets by going to http://sparkmusicfestival.org/tickets/ .
TAPPED – Another GREEN Movie Night
by CREW (Community Renewable Energy of Waterloo).
Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig’s 2009 award winning and broadly recognized documentary is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.
When: Thursday, May 24, 7pm with displays & info starting at 6:30 pm
Where: Original Princess Cinema, Princess St., Waterloo
Mohammad Mahjoub Speaking Tour
Wednesday, May 23rd, 7-9pm, University of Waterloo- EIT building, room 1015
(EIT is the building beside Davis Centre in the direction of the Arts Quadrangle. It’s the one with the dinosaurs!)
Mohammad Mahjoub is one of the “Secret Trial Five” – refugees from Arab countries who were arrested on “security certificates”, with all the “evidence” against them kept secret by CSIS. Two of the Five have now been freed and are suing the Canadian government (Adil Charkaoui and Hassan Almrei).
Read more about Mr. Mahjoub’s story below.
Wednesday, May 23rd, 7-9pm, University of Waterloo- EIT building, room 1015
(EIT is the building beside Davis Centre in the direction of the Arts Quadrangle. It’s the one with the dinosaurs!)
Mohammad Mahjoub is one of the “Secret Trial Five” – refugees from Arab countries who were arrested on “security certificates”, with all the “evidence” against them kept secret by CSIS. Two of the Five have now been freed and are suing the Canadian government (Adil Charkaoui and Hassan Almrei).
Read more about Mr. Mahjoub’s story below.
For almost twelve long years, Mohammad Mahjoub, a torture survivor, has been detained without charge in Canada. He was held for lengthy periods in solitary confinement and later under house arrest. All on the basis of secret information which the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has admitted was likely obtained under torture. Now, for the first time in twelve years, Mr. Mahjoub is permitted to travel outside Toronto.
Mr. Mahjoub is one of five Muslim men who have been struggling for justice in Canada against so-called security certificates. Security certificates allow the government to indefinitely detain or deport people on the basis of their profile. He will tell his story in a seven-city speaking tour, as the Justice for Mahjoub Network gears up for a day of protest to mark the 12th anniversary of his arrest on June 26th.
Join us to hear Mohammad’s story and learn what we can do about it!
For background information visit: www.supportmahjoub.org.
For up-to-date event information check out our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/289162931167112/?ref=ts
or visit the wpirg website: www.wpirg.org/events-2/.
Local event brought to you by WPIRG and the KW Anti-Torture Coalition.
Mahjoub tells his story in Prism magazine (published by Maher Arar):
Protest Enbridge’s bid to bring the Tar Sands to Ontario
On Wed. May 23 a number of local people will car-pool to London (leaving Waterloo at 7:30 am) to protest National Energy Board hearings on Enbridge’s request to reverse the flow of oil in its “Line 9” pipeline across southern Ontario. The pipeline, which now carries imported crude from the port of Montreal to Sarnia to be refined, would start to carry bitumen from the tar sands to Montreal, and ports farther east, to be exported.
This pipeline crosses Waterloo Region, crossing the 401 near Ayr and the Grand River nearby, and passing very close to Cambridge’s southeastern limits. It also, of course, crosses Six Nations territory.
Read more below about the Line 9 pipeline, and how to join the protest.
On Wed. May 23 a number of local people will car-pool to London (leaving Waterloo at 7:30 am) to protest National Energy Board hearings on Enbridge’s request to reverse the flow of oil in its “Line 9” pipeline across southern Ontario. The pipeline, which now carries imported crude from the port of Montreal to Sarnia to be refined, would start to carry bitumen from the tar sands to Montreal, and ports farther east, to be exported.
This pipeline crosses Waterloo Region, crossing the 401 near Ayr and the Grand River nearby, and passing very close to Cambridge’s southeastern limits. It also, of course, crosses Six Nations territory.
Read more below about the Line 9 pipeline, and how to join the protest.
Enbridge “Line 9”: The Tar Sands come to Ontario
http://rabble.ca/news/2013/05/other-enbridge-pipeline-ontarios-line-9-project
https://www.facebook.com/events/348734795189701/
Wednesday May 23:
Join us at a regional convergence against Enbridge, the National Energy Board, and tar sands expansion
Enbridge is being granted a fast-tracked review for their line 9 tar sands pipeline reversal through Ontario. Official hearings begin in London, Ontario on May 23rd.
Let’s fight back!
*************
9:30 am –
Gather near London City Hall (300 Dufferin Avenue – see map: http://tinyurl.com/cp4cgsl)
Meet up before a march to the National Energy Board (NEB) hearing to oppose an expansion of the tar sands pipeline network.
10:15 am –
Rally at the NEB hearing at the Hilton London Hotel (300 King Street – see map: http://tinyurl.com/7ty76zz)
We are opposing the NEB hearing — which is biased in favour of Enbridge, and against Six Nations. The march will arrive before the hearing is scheduled to begin.
1pm –
The rally will be followed by an unofficial People’s Hearing on the Tar Sands Pipeline: http://peopleshearing2012.wordpress.com/
THE ENBRIDGE PIPELINE
The proposal from Enbridge Inc. is to reverse the flow direction of the existing Line 9, from Sarnia toward Hamilton and the Toronto area (map: http://tinyurl.com/6suulf4). This eastward flow will enable more tar sands oil to enter Ontario. Enbridge is likely to use this reversal to export oil from the east coast, as in the Trailbreaker Proposal (map: http://tinyurl.com/7axf4cm).
The pipeline crosses multiple waterways, including the Grand River which flows through Six Nations territory, and the Thames river, through London, Ontario. The Great Lakes are downstream.
Line 9 was built in 1975. Corrosive tar sands and increased flow pressure would increase the risk of a disastrous breach. A similar Enbridge pipeline ruptured along the way to Sarnia in 2010, spoiling 40 kilometers of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.
NATIVE RIGHTS
Enbridge and the NEB are not seeking consent from any of the Indigenous Peoples who may be impacted by this project.
This project violates a series of treaties and agreements: Nanfan treaty, Two-Row Wampum, Great Peace of Montreal treaty, Haldimand Proclamation, section 35 of the Constitution Act, and the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The line 9 reversal will cross land granted to the Six Nations in the Haldimand Proclamation (map: http://tinyurl.com/82zccke). Six Nations people have ongoing concerns about pipeline rupture which would seriously affect the land, water and culture. In particular, the community of Ohsweken is immediately downstream of the Line 9 crossing. Ohsweken’s water supply is the Grand River.
THE NEB HEARING
The NEB hearing has been fast-tracked, without allowing for adequate participation; the process is inaccessible for the general public; and the federal government can completely overrule its decision. To add insult, the official hearing does not consider the impact of tar sands extraction. Therefore, any NEB decision will be undemocratic and illegitimate.
This project should not be approved without free, prior, and informed consent.
FURTHER INFORMATION
https://www.facebook.com/PeopleVersusLine9
http://peopleshearing2012.wordpress.com/line9/
Contact: Paisley Cozzarin at WPIRG <paisleycozzarin@gmail.com>
or Toban Black in London: toban@riseup.net